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Star Ledger--Candidates promise school funding reforms
These days almost everyone agrees that the way New Jersey doles out aid to its public schools is unfair. There is less agreement on what that means or how to fix it.
Tensions in Trenton are running so high that Democratic leaders in the Senate recently threatened to shut down state government unless Gov. Chris Christie and other lawmakers yielded to their ideas for reforming the state’s school aid formula. The last time the government shut down, in 2006, it temporarily closed courts, MVC offices and even Atlantic City’s casinos.
Nicholas Pugliese , State House Bureau, Published 5:54 p.m. ET June 2, 2017 | Updated 8:17 p.m. ET June 2, 2017
Philadelphia Inquirer--Students use cellphones in school to text, bully, plan fights, and sometimes learn
Once banned by most school districts, cellphones now are as much a part of the class day for many students as No. 2 lead pencils were for their parents.
Teachers put them to use as metronomes in music classes, for instance, and give quizzes through a popular app called Kahoot! Parents text their kids to ask when they’ll be home or remind them to walk the dog when they get there.
Administrators, though, have become alarmed by students' increasing use of smartphones to bully one another during school hours, to engage in escalating disputes, and even to arrange fights that are then filmed and posted to social media.
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/Cell-phones-in-school-confound-educators.html
Kathy Boccella, Staff Writer @Kathy_Boccella| Updated: June 2, 2017 — 1:39 PM EDT
The Atlantic--How Education-Funding Formulas Target Poor Kids
Thirty-five states have policies engineered toward sending extra dollars to needy districts. But not all are successful.
Districts serving many low-income children in New Jersey receive nearly $5,000 more per pupil from the state government than districts with a fewer poor students. If that same district was located in Montana, it would only receive an extra $18 per student from the state. Despite the fact that the majority of states have education funding formulas meant to target low-income students, the effectiveness of this targeting varies widely around the country.
In states where districts are more economically segregated, policymakers have an easier time targeting funding to the neediest students. Because poor children benefit more than their wealthier counterparts from increased per pupil funding, a correctly tuned targeting formula could be an important step toward closing the achievement gap.
Hayley Glatter| Jun 1, 2017
